The Water's Reflection
by BlackShadow875
Summary: Sequel to The Snow Turned into Rain. A reflection can mean many things. One could take it to mean in retrospect. But for a certain person, looking at a reflection in the water could mean taking a glance at the inner self. Ch. 3 up.
1. Misery Motivated

_**The Water's Reflection**_

_A/N: Hello, and welcome to the sequel of "The Snow Turned into Rain!" Yeah, this is the twist I decided to make in this story before I trashed the original beginning. For those who wanted to check this out, thanks, as always. Once again, I hope that you'll enjoy this story, and that you'll leave a review during its progress (flames still not allowed). And of course, the first story is a prerequisite - don't read this story until you've read the first._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom, its characters, or anything else that Butch Hartman has created. Once again, the storyline is my own._

_And...here we go..._

_**Chapter 1 - Misery Motivated**_

It was just about to turn midnight. The full moon was like a ghostly specter that haunted the night sky with the greyish clouds surrounding it. The cold air circulating around the sky was cold enough to send a shiver down one's spine, as if there was something inhabiting the rush of air as it flowed by. Sounds of wuthering through the dead bushes gave off that same haunting feeling, sending the sounds of what seemed like wailing through the cold breeze.

And yet...one was crazy enough to take it all.

The old mansion seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, and absolutely random in its placings. After seeing miles of twisted and very tall trees, it suddenly turned into grounds of neatly trimmed lawns and hedges were trimmed and shaped into sculptures of grandeur proportions. Stone paths and walls rounded out the details placed around the old chalet.

Surrounding the whole place was all forested mountainside, as the rays of the moon created long, dark shadows casting their presence on the building, nearly covering the whole place in shadow.

It was here that one particular person lived...a person with blinding scars of the past.

A man with a grudge...

He was pretty much doing nothing at the moment. Seated in his comfortably large living room furnished with random animals from hunting trips, he was reading a book while resting next to a roaring fireplace.

He was alone, of course, but then again, he was always alone. How he could have ever lived this long without having some type of accompaniment was beyind belief, as he was in his forties. Then again, he seemed to almost prefer it that way at times.

Tonight was basically how he was used to it as he casually glanced out the window, except it seemed to be a bit colder. The wind rattled against it as it forced its way through small cracks along its interface, sending random gusts of breeze into the house. The same gusts threatened to blow out the aforementioned fire, something he obviously was not enjoying, especially because it was a colder night.

His eyes shifting back to the fire, they flashed anger for a quick moment when he saw that the fire was getting smaller and smaller with every passing breeze. Grumbling, and mumbling to himself that he had to get the window fixed, he got up from his chair to put another long on the fire before it burned out.

Crossing over to the pile of wood, he grabbed a big piece and went back to try and restore the dying flames.

But before he could, there was suddenly a really strong draft that filled the entire room, blowing out not only the lighted candle next to the book he was reading but also the fireplace itself. In basically a blink of an eye, the dancing flames were quickly extinguished

With no light source, the room was suddenly thrown into total darkness. With no time for his eyes to adjust to the abrupt change in light, he suddenly stumbled over the coffee table in the middle of the room, the log falling out of his hand as it clonked across the wooden floor in an unknown direction.

Cursing, he brought himself up as he blindly felt around for the wall and the light switch. Perhaps a fireplace on a particularly windy night wasn't a good thing, after all.

As his eyes slowly started adjusting to the moonlight coming in through the window, he could barely make outlines of his furniture and was slowly able to avoid them as he took small steps.

His hand suddenly hit the wall he was looking for as he then started groping for the light switch.

But in doing so, a strange sensation came through him. A feeling that he should be aware. A sensation that felt a colder presence somewhere in the room, as if he wasn't the only one after all.

A wisp of smoke emanating from his mouth confirmed his suspicions.

His eyes narrowing, thinking that anyone would dare enter his property, he forgot all about trying to find the light. All he wanted to do was to find the intruder and get them out.

The man called Vlad Masters quickly turned into a ghost and became a vampirish Vlad Plasmius. If it was a ghost that he was dealing with, he might as well become part of the whole thing. The quickly turned around to find whoever it was inside of his house.

Only to immediately find himself staring at a pair of bright red eyes piercing through the darkness.

Even for a vampire, this wasn't something that he was expecting so soon. Caught off guard, he gave a yelp of fear and toppled backwards, not losing eye contact with the bright red eyes.

"Who are you?" he sputtered out, trying to maintain his fear and throwing in as much authority in his voice as possible.

The figure chuckled, as he watched the faint outlines of the feminine-looking body getting clearer and clearer.

She sounded vaguely familiar...

"Don't worry," said the female voice. "The door happened to be open, so I decided to take the liberty of telling you with that rush of wind that it was. But then again, perhaps leaving you in the dark wasn't such a good idea."

His eyes narrowed, his anger slowly building up inside of him as if someone could dare to break in and then laugh at his misfortune.

"Besides," she said, her voice changing a bit in tone. "I have a proposition for you, should you let me shed a light light on the situation that I'm currently in."

"I would like to shed a little light on the situation myself," he said, shooting a ghost ray at the candle and setting it ablaze. The light source immediately gave some sight for the specter to see the faint outline of a woman that was completely camouflaged with her surrounding background. Her ragged outlines gave her an ever-spooky appearance.

"Spectra?" asked Plasmius, brushing himself off and bringing himself into the air. "What are you doing here? What do you want with me?"

She floated next to him, speaking in almost seductive-like tones. "I'm just here to speak to the ever-famous Vlad Masters, wondering if he could help a poor, defenseless spirit such as I..."

He wasn't buying into it. "You break into my mansion and expect me to help you with something? I'm sorry, but you're asking the wrong person. Vlad Masters _never _does the biddings for any other human, or ghost, being. I want you to leave immediately before I _force_ you out."

"Try me," she said, daring him to do so. "Besides, _I know something you don't know..."_ her last words were spoken in a singsong voice that irritated his eardrums to all ends of the earth.

He was always one who wanted to know whatever news there was out there, she herself knew that. She could tell from his furrowed brows that he was struggling with himself to try and not get involved.

But then saw that after much shaking, he lost the battle. "What are you talking about?" he asked giving in to his curiosity.

"It's about the one you call Danny Phantom," she said, trailing off her voice as if the rest of the message was scandalous.

"Daniel?" he asked, lost. "What are you getting at?"

"He robbed me of all my powers and I would like for you to get him for me," she said. "But of course, I'm not asking you to do it for free. You can name your price, and I'll be able to deliver whatever you desire."

She was asking _what?_

Get the target that _he _himself was after? The one that he wanted to crush with his bare hands after what he had done to his prized clones?

"This is absurd!" he screamed out. "I've been after that boy myself for almost two years myself, and I won't need a person like you suddenly begging me on bended knee to do your dirty work. I have my own issues to deal with, thank you very much. Now..." he said, turning away from her and pointing to the door, "...as you were."

He watched as her shoulders slightly droop and her smile vanish slightly from the corners as she turned around.

"OK," she said. "Then I guess you'll never know about your associate, Valerie."

Although his arms were folded across his chest, the name of the girl echoed throughout his head.

"Valerie?" he asked, turning around and watching the female specter about to exit. "What about my pawn - I mean, associate?"

"Oh...nothing..." she said, waiting for the explosion as she continued floating towards the door.

"What's wrong?" he said, floating behind her. "What happened to Valerie?"

"Oh, something I know you'll just _adore_ hearing!"

"What happened?" he asked, anger rising in his voice and his own eyes flashing bright red. "Is she hurt? Did something happen to her? Has she been exposed?"

"Oh, worse than that," said Spectra.

A fear of fear backed up his voice as he then asked. "Is she dead?"

"No...but a lot better than that...she's decided to join forces with that brat!"

It took a while to sink in that information, and he was left in astonished silence. But a few seconds later, it was as if the climate surrounding him suddenly turned into heat. His seething rage boiled up inside him with every second that seemed to pass by.

His voice was sotto. "Is this true?" he asked, a bit of danger behind his voice.

"Yes it is," she said. "I'm not lying."

It was unheard of...she _loathed_ ghosts...he always knew her to be homicidal whenever someone mentioned the word "ghost" in front of her.

But then he thought of something else. She trusted his other side...the Danny Fenton half.

And it was like everything fell into place for him. Once she found about who he really was, she must have had some sort of change of heart. Deep down, there really was a trust in her that he somehow failed to see.

How he overlooked it, he did not know...all he was using her for was to keep him occupied, and to monitor his powers.

Not like that would help him anymore...

His fists started clenching into even tighter fists as the rage continued to grow inside of him. But he knew that at any moment, he would reaching breaking point...

And soon enough, he let it all free. A scream that seemed to shake not only the mansion but part of the forest as well emanated from his mouth, as a ghost ray involuntarily shot out from his left palm.

But the scream wasn't enough. Soon he took it out on the coffee table by blasting it to bits. Spectra watched as he then took a vase and hurled it out the window, sending shards of glass everywhere.

"Well," said Spectra, watching him with a smile on her face. "What do you think?"

He was breathing heavily, but he maintained the anger he was currently feeling. _"That insolent little...teaming up with that...why would she...ohh, they'll both pay dearly for this..."_

She felt it was as good a time as any, now that he was all riled up. "So you'll help me?" she asked, floating up to him.

"No," he said, shoving her aside. "I take care of matters like this personally. I will need no help from a stranger such as yourself."

"But you wouldn't have known about any of this if I hadn't told you!" she yelled.

"I would have found out eventually," he said. "I know how I'll take care of Valerie, and as for Daniel, I have little invention that I just upgraded that will make things a lot easier. Besides, how could you help me? You don't know anything about me."

"_Au contraire_, my vampire friend, but I do know a certain something that you are always trying to find..."

"And what would that be?" he asked.

She smirked again. "You're a lonely single man in your forties; you've never married, never had any children, let's face it...you're all alone."

_"How could she possibly know that?"_ he asked himself in his head, but trying to keep the truth hidden with his mask of indifference.

"How would I know?" she asked, as if she was reading his mind. "C'mon, I was a therapist when I was alive. I would know these kinds of things. I'm asking you for my help, and you've always been after a bit of companionship. If I could sweeten the pot a little more, I believe that I can arrange a little solution for your problem..."

"Incredulous!" he yelled, turning away from her and folding his arms across his chest. "Never in any kind of life _or _afterlife would I ever find you attractive!"

She was taken aback for a quick second. But after the dust cleared, she started shrieking with laughter.

Vlad's eyebrow raised as he turned to see her almost rolling upon the ground in hysterics.

"Oh, what is it now?" he asked. "You can't possibly be crying over this!"

_"Me?"_ she blurted out among her laughter. _"You thought...Me?"_ she continued laughing. "Oh, no, I would never think something like that!" Her laughter died back down as she then brought herself up from the ground.

"No," she said. "Danny's lost a certain someone in his life after she tried to help him...but instead, she ended up sacrificing herself."

Vlad's ears perked up at the thought of the word "her"...

"Maddie?" he said, hopefully.

"No," she said. "Jazz was the one..."

He was a bit disappointed, but somehow, not by much.

"Jasmine?" he asked. "You're telling me that in an act of heroism in order to help her brother, she ended up sacrificing herself?"

"Precisely. And believe me, she hasn't developed her powers that quickly yet."

His eyebrow raised again. "What are you saying?"

"This is the deal, Vlad," she said. "Because of Jazz's passing, Danny, is, shall we say, still trying to heal himself from that incident. So in a matter of terms, he's still a bit weak. My plan is..."

"Are you joking?" interrupted Vlad once again. "Jazz would never join forces with me! I'm going to stick with my original plan and duke this out alone."

"You can at least let me help you fight," said Spectra. "Danny and Valerie, along with Sam and Tucker all fight as a team together. You're going to be heavily outnumbered. From what I hear, Valerie's been teaching them all a bit of her black-belt prowess..."

Vlad had forgotten all about that. It did seem that simply cloning himself wasn't going to help this time.

"Besides," she said. "After the fight, and you get rid of Danny, that'll give me the chance to go after Jazz..."

"What makes you so confident that we'll become the victors?"

"Don't worry," she said, going back to her seductive tones. "Jazz has touched every single one of those teenagers. And I extract misery, after all..."

"And about Jazz?" he asked. "I'm quite sure that she won't come crying to me immediately. She wouldn't betray so quickly..."

"I already told you - I have my ways," she said. "Now, for the last time, will you help me, and not just yourself?"

Vlad took a while to think. After all, she was the one who told him all of this information...how could it hurt?"

"All right," he said, shaking her hand. "You've got a deal. But the minute I find out you're double-crossing me, it's all off!"

"No problem," she said. "I believe you've made an excellent decision for the both of us..."

"But _I _make the rules, Spectra," he said. "We will strike on _my_ orders. We have to get him when they're surprised, when they're least expecting it."

"Fine, fine," she said. "Don't worry - together, we'll get rid of that Phantom for good!"

He smiled, but made it vanish as soon as he formed it.

"See you later, Vlad," she said. And turning herself intangible, she flew out of the house and into the cold night."

"Foolish," he said to himself when he was sure she was out of earshot. He still had reasons to believe that she was withholding something...something that he didn't want him to know. Even though they shook on it, he still did not trust her.

Either way, it did not matter. As he stood by himself in the moonlit hallway, he could only think of one thing.

Betrayal...

Valerie...after all that he had done for her...she decided to suddenly switch sides with the one that she was forever trying to destroy...

She would pay..._he_ would pay...

Floating back down into his secret lab, he turned on the lights and looked upon the newly-upgraded invention sitting on a table. He picked it up and pocketed it. He knew that he was going to need it.

Then, looking down at the ground, another simmering fury came back into his body as he could only think of revenge.

And he yelled out one last line into the air that seemed to shake the foundations of the building itself, as it rattled and echoed through the walls.

**"DANNY!"**

_A/N: Tell me what you think, please. Not just reviews, of course, but constructive criticisms are always welcome to me._


	2. Images

_A/N: Sorry, guys. Recently couldn't find any time. Thanks for waiting, though._

_Well, many people might find this chapter to be a bit familiar. Well, the only thing I'll say is that in some ways it is, some ways it isn't._

_A bit of warning to a minor swear word said by a character here. I'm trying to be careful these days about not putting too much in my writing, but after what happens in this chapter, I figured that there isn't a way around this one. But I've got a feeling most of you probably won't care anyway, though._

_Chapter 2!_

_**Chapter 2 - Images**_

It was happening again...

He was in another world of darkness...everything around him was shrouded in that familiar shadow that could not be pierced by any kind of light. He was facing and walking, once again, in some random direction in a straight line. Why he was doing it was not of his knowing, but then again, he had learned that questioning dreams was something superfluous - going along with the whole thing had always seemed to be his best bet, even if at times it ended in some horrific way.

As he continued making his blind walk, he heard something in the far distance. Straining his ears to figure out the unfamiliar noise, he was unable to figure out what it was.

The further he walked, the more fuzzy and unclear it seemed to become. It seemed kind of strange that it was working in the reverse.

Then he started thinking...if things were working in reverse, then could that mean...?

He turned around and started walking in the other direction. Sure enough, the further away he walked, the louder it became. Was he walking away from it in the first place? If so, what was he walking away from?

Continuing along, the noise became louder and a lot clearer. Something inside him wanted to turn back, but, of course, his curiosity always got the better of him.

Finally, after he finally strained out the final remnants of his dying hearing, he was able to figure out what it sounded like.

But at the same time, he had a bad feeling about it. It was a sound that he never liked to hear.

It was crying...

And, of course, he didn't know who it was coming from. All he knew, however, was that if he was to make sense of anything around here, he would end up having to locate wherever it could be.

However, he got a bit of unexpected help.

As soon as the thoughts tried to pass through his mind about where to go next, it was like someone had flipped on a wallful of light switches. The world reversed upon itself as he found himself in an extremely bright world, where he was once again blinded.

"AHHH!" he yelled, trying to shield the brilliancy.

And then he came across another unforeseen reversal...he heard the screaming.

Immediately, the faint crying had turned into loud, bloodcurdling voices. Voices that were resounded higher than what he was used to. Voices that sounded desperate. From what he could hear, they were cries of anguish, but for some reason, they sounded unhurt.

The shrieks of crying pain pierced through his ears so loudly that he had to move his hands away from his eyes and towards his ears instead. Faced with both extremes, it was hard to tell which was worse.

_"Let it die!"_ he thought desperately, trying to block it all out. _"Let it die!"_

After enduring the torture on his ears and eyes, he suddenly felt his body shift once again, as a rush of wind seemed to blow right through him.

_Through him?_

But he never got a chance to rethink the news, as yet another random event took place. The screaming had stopped, and everything was silent, as if the whole world was suddenly put on mute. Unable to keep his eyes closed, he opened them to see if there was any kind of change in the area.

He saw what he had expected - the area was almost completely clear of the blinding light. Squinting, he tried to see now if there was anything around him...but all he could see was himself. However, he took a double-take at himself.

He was floating, his body slightly opaque...and he wasn't in ghost mode.

_"What's going on?"_ he thought. _"Why am I...?"_

A noise interrupted his train of thought. Quickly realizing that he could solve the mystery, he searched around for the source.

The sounded like the same sounds he heard...the same voices...

Except no longer were they high-pitched. Though the voices continued to echo in the unknown abyss, they weren't as loud as before. He still wasn't able to recognize them, yet.

And suddenly they stopped. He paused for a second, hoping he didn't lose them. He looked around and attempted to listen for any kind of sound if they were nearby or not.

And he got one last reaction.

The slightly darkened abyss around him suddenly faded. It morphed and started making a meaningful surrounding he was used to.

It was the inside of a building...but it wasn't like any building he had ever seen before...it looked like an abandoned building.

Another crying voice made him jump as he was again caught by surprise. The vision weren't clear yet, but he heard the voices, clear as day without the echoes.

_"No...it can't be...why?"_

_"This...this is unreal..."_

He felt as if a fireball of fear shot into his stomach as he heard the distinct voices.

It was Sam and Tucker. And they didn't sound like themselves. It was that ethereal gloom in their voices that made him a bit scared. For all he knew, anything could have been going on...

He...he was afraid to turn around. What...were they crying at?

But he knew that the only way to know was to turn around...

Doing so, he was unhappy that they had their backs facing towards them. And he was even more unhappy to see another surprise that he wasn't ready for. Valerie was there, too, with her head down, in her ghost-hunter gear. Instead of the confident tone that she had in her voice while in her hunter mode, he heard a great difference. But from what he could hear, it sounded like she was sobbing uncontrollably, unable to form words.

This...didn't look pretty.

Maybe he could talk to them...? He had to ability to do so in any dream...how could this be any different?

It looked like there could be something _a lot _different...

"Umm...guys...?" his voice quavered.

No reply came from them as they continued facing away from him.

"Sam? Tuck? Val?" he asked, hoping to get them to respond. "Guys, can you hear me?"

No answer.

"This isn't funny!" he said, his voice starting to rise. "Guys, what's wrong?"

Still no answer.

Now he was getting really upset. Reaching his arm out to tap Tucker on the shoulder, his voice became his highest as he leaned in on him.

"TUCKER! WHAT IS GOING..."

But he never finished. He watched in disbelief as his hand slipped right through his friend as he lost balance, falling face-down on the floor, phasing through the rest of Tucker in the process.

"What the...?" he said, starting to get up. "How did that happen to..."

And finally, as he looked ahead, he saw the reasons for everything.

He felt every hair on the back of his neck stand on end as he looked at the motionless body lying in front of him.

_"No..."_ he said. _"It...it can't be..."_

It was him.

Or something that resembled him.

He was in ghost mode...and it looked like he lost...badly. Endless gashes in his suit almost made him unrecognizable, even to his own self. He was missing the entire right arm of his suit, exposing the bare, severely abraded arm. His face looked like he had been thrown into almost every object imaginable...it was bleeding and teeming with debris he couldn't even recognize.

No...he couldn't be...?

_Dead?_

A thin trickle of the ever-popular liquid flowed down his left ear, forming a small puddle on the ground.

There wasn't any doubt to it any longer...he was looking at his own dead self...

Then...the body he was currently in...

The phasing, the unexplainable floating...

He was the soul...

_"Oh, God..."_ he thought, piecing the puzzle together.

He knew earlier that he had screamed out to "let it die," but he wasn't prepared for something like this!

His heart started racing again. Looking up, he saw Tucker still standing inside of him, as he was phasing directly into his back. Getting up from the ground in a hurry, he looked at them all, hoping that he could reverse it.

"No...guys..." he said, his own voice dripping with fear. "Look at me...please...I'm right here...guys? Please look at me!"

They couldn't see him.

"GUYS!" he screamed, waving his arms, desperately trying to get their attention. "I'M NOT DEAD!"

All he got from them was another scream by Sam.

_"Please..." _she was saying. _"No more...please...you've done enough..."_

It sounded like she was talking to someone...

_"No...please...NOOOOOOO!"_

Her scream made him do two things. The first thing it did was make him cover his ears. The second thing was making him turn away from the sound so that it wouldn't hurt so much.

But in turning around, he saw why she had been screaming.

He...he was looking at himself _vaporize_!

He watched in disbelief as his body started disappearing...starting from his legs on its way up.

Another grip of fear pulled into him as he watched himself literally evaporate into thin air. Aside from looking at his dead self, it was probably one of the most frightening things he had ever seen watching helplessly as he just seemed to see himself fade away.

Now he was _really_ going to be sick...

**_"HAHA!"_** yelled a voice from above. **_"NEVER! I WILL MAKE SURE THAT HE NEVER EXISTS AGAIN!"_**

_"That voice..."_ he thought. _"No...please...don't let it be who I think it is..."_

But he didn't get his way. His fears confirmed, it was exactly who it was.

_But how was this possible?_

**_"HA!"_** yelled the booming-voice figure again. **_"HE HAS BEEN ERASED! HE CAN NEVER COME BACK, EVEN IN THAT ANNOYING GHOST FORM!"_**

He looked back down where his body used to be...it had vanished. He felt another lump in his throat...he felt like he was going to be sick...

_"You...you...bastard!"_ yelled Valerie from behind. _"How could you?"_

**_"TSK, TSK..."_** said the figure, forcing the attention of the boy back to that area. **_"I MERELY WANTED YOU THREE TO JUST WITNESS A LOST FRIEND...BUT I'LL DO YOU ONE BETTER..."_**

Déjà vu struck again as he watched his motions.

The boy watched in horror as he watched the specter raise his arms and summon up a bright ray of green light, growing into that ever-recognizable prism of destruction...

_**"HOW ABOUT JOINING HIM?"**_

He watched in slow-motion terror as the light was suddenly cast directly at them.

_"NOOO!"_ shouted all three of his friends at once.

Now it was his own turn to yell, as the boy found himself yelling the same thing. He tried to shield the oncoming force from them..._but what the heck would that do?_ Everything would just end up passing right through him!

And soon enough, he heard their screams, just as the light was approaching. They reached the same deafening volumes from earlier, as he then covered his ears, grabbing his shirt at the same time to try and block out more of the noise.

There was nothing left to do, but...

_"This is only a dream..."_ he thought over and over. _"Just a dream..."_

The screaming didn't stop.

_"I need to wake up..."_

He still could hear them clearly.

_"WAKE UP, DANG IT! WAKE UP!"  
_

The light was excruciating...

_**"WAKE UP!"**_

And suddenly, like lightning, he felt his body shift again. Another rush of wind passed through him as he wildly felt himself get teleported to a place.

In a matter of a couple of seconds, it all stopped. The noises...the blinding light...everything.

Danny Fenton literally flew up from his bedsheets, covered in icy sweat, and gasping as if he hadn't had any air for three years. His heart was of course, beating rapidly and it felt like he was about to go into shock at any moment.

In a panic, he looked at his surroundings, checked himself for injuries, and even looked at the time.

The answers were: the room was fine, he had no injuries, and it was 3:00 in the morning...

He was safe...things were as they should be.

Just another dream...that was all...

Closing his bloodshot eyes, he started calming down a bit, as he felt his breathing slowly returning to normal, his gasps becoming quieter and quieter with every passing second.

His mind running free, he recounted the past couple of nights. Although they weren't the exact same kind of nightmare he just had, there still stood the same feeling of despair from almost beginning to end...almost exactly like before...

And that familiar light was seen in that vision he had just previously.

But...it couldn't be. This whole thing...wasn't happening again...was it?

_Was it?_

_He didn't want it to happen again!_

Forcing himself away from the subject, he tried to think up soothing thoughts. Anything that came to his head, as long as it drew away from it.

_"No one's coming after me...I'm not disappearing...no one's crying...there isn't anyone calling out for me..."_

"Danny?" asked a voice behind him.

The voice made him jump as he tried to see who it came from at the same time. Through blurry vision, he traced his eyes around the outline of the one who spoke

And there stood a girl that he wasn't expecting to see...

_"Jazz?"_ he asked unbelievably. _"No...impossible!"_

She wasn't in her worldly attire, but now wore the black coat that he had envisioned of. She didn't seem to be listening, as she walked towards him, saying his name as it echoed throughout the walls, stretching one hand out to him.

_"Danny..."_ she said ethereally. _"Remember..."_

"R-Remember?" he asked, completely terrified of her advances. "W-What are you saying?"

_"Remember..."_ she repeated, getting ever closer to him.

Finding no way around it, he felt pinned against the wall of his bedroom. He could've went intangible and fallen through, but his mind was too pre-occupied to even think of anything else right now.

"No..." he said, believing she was a mere figment of his imagination. "Get away!"

But she didn't, as now she was right in front of him, her ghostly legs phased through the bedframe. Closing her eyes, she leaned out to him with her outstretched arm.

"Get away!" he yelled again, fearing that she was going to harm him, his heart beating fast once again. "GET AWAY!"

Danny watched in fear as her hand didn't do anything to him at all. Instead, her palm reached for his chest and he watched it phase right through him, but only barely. It was like she was only trying to touch the surface.

_"Remember this..."_ she said, pulling her hand away.

He may have been only slightly relieved, but he was still freaked out. "Jazz...please...talk to me...remember what?"

She stood there like an idle statue, her eyes closed, not saying anything else. But she was still standing right above him.

"JAZZ!" he yelled. "What do I have to remember?"

A creaking noise suddenly made him stop, as he then turned quiet. Looking around in fear, it was as if the whole room was shaking along with the noise. Whatever it was, it sounded like it was coming from outside the walls...

"Jazz..." he said, still hoping she would hear. "W-What's going on?"

But he never got a chance to hear anything else. Suddenly, the walls of his room completely collapsed, now letting free the thing that they had been trying to hold back.

Water.

His last image of Jazz disappeared as what seemed like millions of gallons of water poured into the room, giving him absolutely no time to brace himself.

He was flailing, trying to swim anywhere to find a surface, as long as it led him to oxygen. But it felt like no matter how hard he was trying, there seemed like there wasn't any place to go.

He was drowning...and there wasn't anything he could do...

_"Help..." _he cried feebly into the water. But he only emitted one very large oxygen bubble.

His flailing of desperation started slowing down, as he was running out of air. He was sinking, reaching out blindly for anything.

_"Anyone...please...help...Me..."_

And somehow, he heard a voice. It was faint, but he could hear it.

_"Danny...wake up..."_

But...how could he...? He had already woken up...

_"Danny...DON'T DO THIS TO US! **WAKE UP!**"_

And the surrounding water evaporated around him...he clutched at his own throat...he was breathing air!

Something caught in his throat...it didn't seem to be any foreign object, but it felt like something else. It felt like...

...a gasp?

He let it free...and at the same time opened his eyes.

The vision of his room melted away and his surroundings completely changed in what seemed like the blink of an eye. It was a different room altogether...

He had lost his memories altogether...where was he?

"Danny!" yelled a familiar voice. "What was that? What happened to you?"

Not wondering what to believe anymore, his eyes shifted to the source, where he found himself looking into a pair of lilac eyes. He knew her name...but after all the stress he was feeling, it took him a while to remember...

"S-Sam?" he asked, his voice shaking.

"Don't worry...you'll be all right..." she said, fearful for her friend, putting a hand on his shivering shoulder. "Tucker and Valerie are coming back...don't worry...things'll be fine..."

Tucker? Valerie? They were here, too?

He was as confused as ever.

_A/N: And that's where I'll leave you for now. I've seriously got to try and find more time to write this...but in the meantime, how about a review?_


	3. Out of Focus

_A/N: OK, uh..._

_I'm sorry about the long wait (again), but I swear that I haven't forgotten about this story, even it has been TWO months since I updated. School is really starting to get a little harder here, plus my work really isn't cutting me any slack._

_I'll really try to update when I can...the problem is if I can find the time to do so._

_Here's the third chapter._

_**Chapter 3 - Out of Focus**_

Whoever thought a simple sleepover would reach such lengths?

It was almost four o'clock in the morning, but with the activity going on in the Manson household, it seemed like it was the middle of the day. No more than five different cars had pulled up to the residence, some of them ambulances, followed by several firetrucks.

But of course, if there was ever someone sick the Manson household, both Mr. and Mrs. Manson made sure that everything was pretty much covered on a just-in-case basis. A great example was when Sam had the flu, when six people attended to her at the same time.

In the middle of all the chaos, three friends waited patiently, but nervously, as they waited for the condition of their friend.

"How's he doing?" asked Tucker, nervously drumming his fingers on one of his many PDA's.

"I can't hear a thing," said Valerie, pressing her ear to the door that separated them to the person they wanted to see on the other side. "All I can hear is a bunch of voices."

"Oh, that's absolutely perfect," said the other African-American, as he resumed pacing back and forth in the hallway. "He's our best friend, and we can't even get to see him."

"Well, if there weren't so many of these people, then perhaps we could actually get inside," said Valerie, still trying to hear through the door, trying every possible point to listen into. Then she stopped, and focused on one spot, her eyes widening.

"Tucker!" she said, motioning him over wildly with her arm. "Come here! I got something!"

"What is it?" he asked, hurrying over.

"You've got better hearing than me," she said, taking her ear of the wall. "Why don't you listen?"

Tucker went up to the spot and listened carefully. "Well...I can hear someone's voice...it sounds like they're doing some more tests...but I'm not sure..."

"Are they taking his blood pressure again?" asked Valerie. "They've taken it like five times!"

"You might count this one number six, then," said Tucker, chuckling quietly under his breath. "OK...he says things are looking good...but he's not sure...one more test, he says..."

"_Another_ one?" asked Valerie incredulously. "How many do they have to do?"

"Don't know," said Tucker, still poised against the door. "Oh well, better hear if I can determine what it is..."

In deeper concentration, he listened. First there was silence...then...

_...thump thump thump..._

"What the heck?" asked Tucker out loud. "What are they doing to him?"

"What?" asked Valerie, curiously. "Let me hear." She pressed her ear against a spot above him.

_...Thump Thump Thump..._

"Whoa," she said quietly, her face slightly contorted in confusion. "What is that?"

"I don't know," said Tucker. "But whatever it is, it's getting louder..."

_...THUMP THUMP THUMP..._

"It's nothing I've ever heard from in a doctor's office," said Valerie, turning her head to concentrate more.

"Beats me," said Tucker, who still had that fear of the nurse's office at school. "There's just...something I think I know about it..."

_**...THUMP THUMP...**_

And suddenly Tucker found an understanding behind the thumping. Looking up at Valerie in horror, he saw in that split second that she formed a meaning behind it, as well...

The door suddenly opened into them, followed by the heavy footsteps of the doctor's boots.

"AHHH!" yelled Tucker and Valerie, as the door sent them toppling into the other direction, landing on top of each other on the ground.

"Are you all right?" asked the doctor in horror. "I'm sorry! I didn't know that there were people on the other side!"

Staggering up, Tucker brushed himself off and re-adjusted his glasses. "Yeah, we're fine. I guess we had that coming to us, trying to listen into that."

"Well, as long as you're all right," said the doctor, helping Valerie up from the ground. "The last thing we need are more patients at this time of night."

Valerie laughed. "Sure thing...and thank you."

"No problem," said the doctor, walking to his vehicle to get some equipment.

"Can we see him yet?" called out Tucker after him.

"One more thing," yelled the doctor. "Then we'll all be clear." He then disappeared to get something out of the trunk.

"Oh man, Tucker, you should've seen your face while you were falling!" said Valerie, unable to control a fit of giggles.

"_Not_ as funny as you!" said Tucker, laughing back.

Both enjoyed a hearty spurt of laughter before Tucker saw the third member of the group behind Valerie, still looking as forlorn as ever as she was sitting on a chair staring into the fireplace.

"Uh oh," said Tucker, motioning with his head over to the girl behind Valerie. He walked over to her, Valerie close on his heels.

Tucker stopped to look at her side profile. The Goth girl looked like she was deep in thought, but she wore a look of fear on her face as she continued watching the dancing flames, not paying attention to anything else.

"Sam?" asked Tucker, trying to get her attention by touching her on the shoulder.

Not expecting it, she gasped a bit when she felt a hand on her shoulder, but then quickly relaxed when she saw it belonged to a friend. "Hi, Tucker," she said, with a bit of glumness behind her voice.

"Are you OK?" asked Tucker, crossing in front of her and slightly blocking the television of flames.

"Huh?" she asked, a bit surprised. "Oh yeah, I'm OK..."

Her voice trailed off. An obvious sign something was up.

"Sam," said Valerie, causing her to glance in her direction. "You haven't talked ever since all these people started coming. Something's up with you."

"No," she said, but knowing from the look of her friends' faces that they weren't buying into it. "It's nothing..."

"Is it Danny?" asked Tucker automatically.

She was trapped, and she started looking for ways out "Well...I...no...it's not like that...y-you see...I..."

"Sam..." said Tucker and Valerie at the same time.

Finding herself caught in her own words, Sam put her head down. "Guys...I'm sorry...I just..."

"You have nothing to be sorry about, Sam," said Valerie. "We're just as worried about him as you are."

"But you don't understand," said Sam. "I was the first one to see him..."

"We called for help," said Tucker. "And from what I see, it looks like things are pretty much under control." He paused to laugh quietly for a second as he thought of all those doctors on one person.

"Yeah," said Valerie, "just as long they don't do a test that accidentally figures out that he's, well...you know..."

Sam smiled a bit, knowing that Valerie didn't have to finish. Ever since those fateful days, she had been a perfect keeper of Danny's secret ever since she found out about it. She and Danny seemed to have patched things up pretty well, as they were a good team for catching ghosts. She and her father were also doing well financially finally. But what still bugged her was the exact details of how it happened - how Valerie found herself on the spot of first knowing about him.

But that was well beyond the point of interest.

"But I've almost never heard such a thing in my life..." she said, worry returning to her voice. "His screams...they were just, so..."

Her voice trailed off again as Tucker and Valerie exchanged worried glances.

"You know perfectly well that I'm used to his Ghostly Wail," said Sam. Tucker and Valerie slightly agreed. "But I just heard something else in that voice of his...something I know he'd been trying to hold back..."

"What is it?" asked Tucker.

Sam raised her head and once again stared at her friend directly in the eye.

"Jazz," she said simply.

The name caused memory shifts in all three friends' minds, as somehow they felt a creeping shiver run down their spines.

"But I'm sure he's fine..." said Valerie.

"It's been quite a while since the accident," said Sam, interrupting. "I just...can't stop thinking...how things must've been..."

"But that was almost half a year ago," said Tucker. "He's learned to move on..."

"But he lost someone in the process," said Sam, her voice quavering. "I know that he may seem fine to us, but there was just...something in that scream of his that summed up everything. You two have no idea what it was like...being the first to wake up, just listening to him...it was...just horrible..."

"It might have been something different," said Valerie. "You know dreams...they're almost never real..."

"Not from before," said Tucker, remembering the harsh past.

"What are you talking about?" asked Valerie.

Sam spoke softly. "A while back, Danny started having visions in his sleep. And for some reason, they seemed to have some connection with a person around him. He never told us about them in detail, but I first never believed him that they could actually be some type of calling...some premonition..."

"Wait," said Valerie. "Are you saying that Danny found some ability to see the future?"

"Not just a future," said Sam. "A foretelling of a tragedy."

"Foretelling?" repeated Valerie. "You mean, he _knew_ that Jazz was going to die?"

"Not consciously," said Sam. "But...you know how it went..."

"But...how can we be sure that it wasn't coincidence?" asked Tucker, suddenly trying to erase that memory in his head.

"Because Danny had something _exactly _like this like before!" said Sam, her hands coming up to her face. Her voice had now risen, making Tucker and Valerie jump back a bit.

Quickly, she recognized her mistake, as her voice went back down once again. "I'm sorry..." she said. "This is...just too much for me right now...I'm scared."

"Scared?" asked Tucker. "Is this is the reason you've holed yourself up over here? Why are you so scared? What makes you scared?"

Sam glanced up as if she going to say it outright, but then quickly reneged as she buried her face back into her hands. "No," she said. "You two will probably just think that I'm just being paranoid."

"No, we won't," said Valerie, trying to reassure her. "What's on your mind?"

Sam looked back up once again, trying to see if she could actually say the words that she was currently thinking. When she saw from her friends that she had the ability to say anything, she decided to go along with it.

"Guys...we haven't heard from any major ghost in quite a while," she said. "I've just got this fear that something's going to happen at any point right now."

Tucker and Valerie once again exchanged quick glances.

"Those dreams...those premonitions...what if this whole process repeats itself...?"

The whole concept became clear to the ones listening. Was she talking about...?

Valerie's voice was shaky. "Y-You mean...to one of u-us?"

Sam nodded coherently.

"But you can't be," said Tucker. "What are the odds of that whole thing being copied once again?"

Sam dropped her head down back to the floor, as she knew she was getting the drawbacks she was expecting. "Tucker, like I said, it's only what I think. I know it's completely unlikely, but still..."

"I know that was a horrible event," said Tucker, still trying to use the same reassuring tones Sam desperately needed, yet at the same time feeling some reassurance to himself. "But only the most evil thing could ever attack in the healing process."

"But we don't know how these ghosts are," said Sam. "They could be thinking anything right now..."

"Danny's strong," said Valerie. "I can see what you're saying, Sam, but I know he can do this...no matter what the odds, whatever thing is thrown at him...I think he's amazing at what he does..."

The Goth girl looked up surprisingly at Valerie, who then quickly turned a shade of crimson.

_"Whoa," _she thought.

"Well..." said the hunter girl, still crimson, "I have been fighting with him for quite a while now...and you guys, being his friends and all, I thought you could be thinking along the same lines?"

Sam and Tucker chuckled a bit.

"I guess," said Sam, feeling a bit better after that laugh. "I'm sorry to worry you two...maybe that _was_ out of the blue..."

"No, it wasn't," said Tucker, giving her a pat on the back. "You're just worried about him, that's all..."

"Yeah," she said, putting her head back down. "But now there's something else that's bugging me?"

"What's that?" asked Valerie.

"It's about Jazz...I can't help thinking about that night when she passed..."

"What about it?" said Valerie.

Sam once again claimed her innocence as she asked out loud, "Danny's new power...there's still something that he's still not telling me..."

Valerie felt her heart sink down to her shoes. She knew this was coming...

"Did Jazz..._want_ to die that night? Was there something that she was trying to accomplish, enough to push me out of the way before she and I accidentally got in the way of Danny's Ghostly Wail?"

"But why would anyone want to die?" asked Tucker. "It doesn't make any sense."

"I know it doesn't," said Sam. "But it's...just too coincidental..."

Valerie could remember that whole thing, as the flashbacks passed through her head, tuning out Sam's questions...

"I'll never be able to thank Danny properly for that, but at the same time I can't even mention it to him...I just have this feeling that he could be hiding something...and it involves Jazz..."

Valerie's memories recalled words...

_"Jazz..." said Danny. "You...put...your life essence into them..._

_"I knew I couldn't let her fate become mine..."_

Part of Jazz was living _inside _her...and Danny didn't want Sam to know any of that...because telling her that truth would end up leading to a waterfall of other truths...

The ghost hunter was about to say something, perhaps to change the subject, until Sam said something that was like a godsend.

"Or maybe I'm just overthinking this thing way too much..."

Tucker started laughing. "Yeah, Sam, I think you're thinking about Danny a little too much these days..." He nudged her in the ribcage, to which she quickly responded by playfully pushing him off balance.

"AHH!" he quickly yelled, as he felt himself fall against the hard floor.

Valerie took the time of confusion to quickly enter back into the conversation, covering up her previous fears.

"I agree with Tucker," she said. "Perhaps I see something..."

"Hey, watch it or else!" said Sam, feeling herself redden.

Valerie laughed. "Heh heh...I'm just kidding, Sam. You know that."

Sam got off her defensive stance and soon started laughing herself. "Yeah, I know."

As her face lightened up, Tucker and Valerie knew that they had done their job.

"Thanks, guys," she said. "I feel a lot better."

"Anytime," said Tucker, straightening his glasses for a second time.

_"That was close,"_ said Valerie, breathing a sigh of relief on the inside. But she knew that Sam would most likely end up uncovering that truth any time now. It was only a matter of when...

At that point, the door suddenly opened to reveal the doctor that accidentally ran into Tucker and Valerie from earlier

"You can see him now," he said.

"Thanks," said all three at once, walking inside at the same time.

And there he sat on the bed, looking a bit delirious, but still fine.

"Just a bit of a shock," he said. "He should be perfectly fine...all I would like to know is why you had to summon so many of us..."

"Yeah," said Danny playfully. "I had so many people around me - it felt like I was on display at a museum!"

Sam reddened once again. "Well, my parents...you know how they are..."

"Well, I know now," said Danny, but at the same time laughing it all off.

"Anything else we can do for you, Mr. Fenton?" asked another doctor in the room. "Call your parents, perhaps?"

**"NO!"** shouted Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie all at the same time. Then they all looked at each other, wild-eyed, making everyone else around them wondering.

"Uhh, sorry..." said Danny speaking up for the four of them. "My parents...their ghost obsessions...well, do you get my idea?"

Thinking for a second, the doctor just put his mind around the time his parents made a whole deal of putting their entire ghost house under quarantine because of some "ghost ecto-acne." It was quite an eyesore.

He laughed slightly. "I think I know what you mean," he said.

All four friends laughed. "Yeah," said Danny.

"Well, thank you, Mr. Fenton," he said. And he left along with others, leaving the four of them alone in the room.

"So, uh..." said Tucker. "How're you feeling?"

"I'm feeling OK," said Danny, putting his head down in a bit of embarrassment. "Sorry I caused such a ruckus."

"I'll say," said Valerie. "After Sam woke me up, I saw you screaming at the top of your lungs in your sleep!"

And Danny suddenly felt himself shiver. Everything about his visions came back in quick flashes to haunt him...

Including what happened after that...and that person he definitely wasn't wanting to see...

Dreaming within a dream...so cliché, yet something he didn't want to go through again...

The scary thing that continued haunting him...what was that message from Jazz all about?

And was this happening _again_?

"Sorry about that," he said, sheepishly, snapping out of his own reverie. "But I did kinda warn you guys that if we were all sleeping over, then I might end up talking in my sleep..."

"Well, we know that _now,_" said Sam, sarcastically.

"What were you dreaming about?" asked Valerie.

This was it...

Would he tell them that he had seen himself dead, possibly bringing back up the facts that he could be seeing these things again?

...Or lie?

The first one seemed like a possibility, but then he started thinking.

When Jazz found out Spectra was after him that one time, she wanted to help him out.

And look what happened to her...

Did he dare risk it all once again? Have a person close to him just fade away once again?

He wanted so much to explain, but...no...he couldn't let it come out.

He didn't want them to get involved in that case it could have happened. History repeating itself, a loss of a person, was definitely not something he wanted to occur. And to one of his best friends, the only ones in the entire world who could understand his situation, that was to be an even fiercer dagger through his heart.

As much as he hated to, he had to keep it a secret...for now. Whatever it was, he had to duke this one out alone.

But the problem was coming up with a good lie.

"I...was just dreaming about Jazz...watching her last actions..."

He looked up, watching their reactions, hoping he had pulled it off. From the looks of his friends' faces, he knew he had them fooled. But then he felt a bit ashamed, feeling he had to use _that_ as an example...

To help it along, he said, "Please...I don't want to talk about it anymore..."

"We understand," said Sam, her head down, imagining what she thought he dreamt about. "This isn't something you'd be wanting to say, anyway..."

"Yeah, I know," said Danny.

"Well, since we're all up," said Tucker, "how about trying to make breakfast or something?"

"Good idea," said Valerie. "All of that adrenaline made me hungry."

Sam laughed. "I think after that, we could all use something to eat. You with us, Danny?"

He smiled, as he slowly got up. "That sounds like a good idea to me."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He watched, as all four of them went out of the room and into the kitchen.

When the last person left the room, he decided that he had seen enough.

Sighing, he shut out the image, and he took the opportunity to take a second and think about the whole thing. But unfortunately, he wasn't liking what he was seeing, as he put a hand to his scarred eye, feeling a bit disappointed.

_"Ignorance through falsehood..."_ he thought. _"This isn't the best way to solve this..."_

Of course it wasn't...it was exactly the thing he feared to happen...he was just hoping that Danny would be able to figure this out for himself.

...because if he didn't...

...well, he hoped that he would find out by that time...

Again, sighing, he busied himself with his staff, which needed another winding. He could only keep wondering if there was a clue that he could make blatantly obvious to Danny.

But in doing so, suddenly flashes of an unknown event came to his head.

A dark night, followed by a rustling of the leaves...

...a brilliant ray of light...

..._she_, coming down to help...

_"But is it enough?"_ he thought, as he let it continue flowing through his head.

He could only hope that it was.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_A/N: And there it ends. I would like to see if anyone out there can figure this riddle out...but of course, I hope you don't say any "spoiler" views out loud._

_Reviews, please!_


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